With the weather scorching, there are few better ways to while away a few hours than at the barbecue — aside from anything else, it means you get to enjoy the sun while you cook, rather than being stuck inside in the kitchen. Barbecuing can, though, be frustrating: it is too easy to ruin pricey cuts of meat or decimate lovingly prepared vegetables. Both are easily fixed — take your time, perfect your technique, and the rest will fall into place. Here’s how we like to do it when we’re at the grill, tongs in hand.
Marinades are everything
We love simple, bold marinades that come together quickly and have a few go-to’s we always go back to: fish will get the gentlest treatment with olive oil, a bit of garlic and a bit of orange juice for that citrus hit; chicken will get a slick of pomegranate molasses and some chilli, fresh or dried — wings in particular enjoy this treatment. Our default for lamb and beef is olive oil infused with chilli flakes, lemon zest, and a hardy herb like rosemary, sage or thyme. Works every time. We always like to reserve a bit of the marinade (before it is mixed with meat) to drizzle over after the meat is cooked.
With vegetables and fruit, because of their high water content, we prefer to marinade after grilling — but immediately after, when they’re still warm: give charred courgette strips a squeeze of lemon and some fresh mint; mushrooms love nothing more than a drizzle of soy sauce.
Build flavour without over-smoking
We see smoke as another flavour, a seasoning maybe, and just like with any other seasoning you can go overboard — the last thing you want is for your food to taste like an ashtray. That said, over-smoking is easily avoided: make sure you cook over coals, not flames, and you should be fine. If you are grilling something very oily, it will cause some flaming; a spray bottle filled with water will help with that.
The last thing you want is for your food to taste like an ashtray
Make vegetables the star of the show
Meat and fish love the grill, but it is vegetables and fruit that come into their own with the smoke and searing heat of the grill: we love placing a whole aubergine on the grill until the flesh is meltingly soft, then cutting it open, seasoning generously with salt, lemon and tahini, and dipping in fresh pitta like a hot baba ghanoush. Tomatoes and onions worship the grill as well. Cut them in half and place them cut side down to cook, then arrange on a plate and sprinkle chopped garlic and parsley on top for a very simple but extremely satisfying meal. Don’t forget the fruit either: watermelon wedges grill beautifully, the heat concentrates their sweetness and the smoke adds a haunting complexity. Feta is optional, but chilli, mint oil and lime juice are not.
How to avoid drying out the meat
We would always want to cook meat on the bone, and that is doubly true for the grill: the bones not only add a tonne of flavour but also help to keep your meat from drying out. Because of this, we always go for chops, pork or lamb. If doing chicken, it has to be wings or legs, never breast. All steaks work well, but for a special occasion we will splurge on a bone-in sirloin.
It’s all in your mindset
You really don’t need fancy kit, this is the oldest, most elemental cooking method there is. Your regular household utensils will do: tongs, spatula and an off-licence grill will do the same job as the fancy eggs.
A grill is a state of mind as much as a cooking method: light up the coals and they’ll be hot for an hour or so, maybe more. You want to make the most of it, make a day of it; you are cooking and eating in waves. Load up the grill with something, pass it around, then load up with something else, pass and repeat until you run out of food or heat. And then just relax.
For Honey & Co’s grilling masterclasses, visit honeyandco.co.uk
